Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Early Life –

Spielberg was born inCincinnati, Ohio, to aJewishfamily. His mother Leah Adler was a restaurateur and concertpianist, and father Arnold Spielberg was an electrical engineer involved in the development of computers.He spent his childhood inHaddon Heights, New Jerseyand Scottsdale, Arizona; an upscale city in thePhoenixmetroplex. Throughout his early teens, Spielberg made amateur 8 mm "adventure" films with his friends, the first of which he shot at the Pinnacle Peak Patio restaurant in Scottsdale. He charged admission (25 cents) to his home films (which involved the wrecks he staged with his Lionel train set) while his sister sold popcorn.

In 1958, he became aBoy Scoutand fulfilled a requirement for thephotography merit badgeby making a nine-minute 8 mm film entitled The Last Gunfight.Spielberg recalled years later to a magazine interviewer, "My dad's still-camera was broken, so I asked the scoutmaster if I could tell a story with my father'smovie camera. He said yes, and I got an idea to do a Western. I made it and got my merit badge. That was how it all started."At age 13, Spielberg won a prize for a 40-minute war film he titled, Escape to Nowhere. In 1963, at age 16, Spielberg wrote and directed his first independent film, a 140-minutescience fictionadventure called Firelight (which would later inspire Close Encounters). The film, which had a budget of US$500, was shown in his localcinema theatreand generated a profit of $1.00.He also made several WWII films inspired by his father's war stories.

After his parents divorced, he moved toSaratoga,Californiawith his father. His three sisters and mother remained in Arizona, where he attendedPassover Sedersat the home of Zalman and Pearl Segal on an annual basis.Although he attendedArcadiaHigh Schoolin Phoenix, Arizona for three years, Spielberg ended up graduating fromSaratogaHigh SchoolinSaratoga, California in 1965. It was during this time Spielberg attained the rank ofEagle Scout.

Spielberg attended synagogue as a young boy in Haddon Heights, NJ, an area which did not allow Jews before World War II. He attended Hebrew school from 1953 to 1957, in classes taught by RabbiAlbert L. Lewis,who would later be memorialized as the main character in Mitch Albom's, Have a Little Faith.

As a child, Spielberg had a hard time accepting his family's religion. “It isn’t something I enjoy admitting,” he once said, “but when I was 7, 8, 9 years old, God forgive me, I was embarrassed because we were Orthodox Jews. I was embarrassed by the outward perception of my parents’ Jewish practices. ... I was never really ashamed to be Jewish, but I was uneasy at times. My grandfather always wore a long black coat, black hat and long white beard. I was embarrassed to invite my friends over to the house, because he might be in a corner davening [praying], and I wouldn’t know how to explain this to my WASP friends.”

Spielberg also suffered from acts ofanti-Semiticprejudice in his early life. He later said, "In high school, I got smacked and kicked around. Two bloody noses. It was horrible."

After moving to California, he applied to attend the film school atUniversity of Southern CaliforniaSchool of Theater, Film and Television three separate times, but was unsuccessful. He was a student subsequently ofCaliforniaStateUniversity, Long Beach. While attending Long BeachState in the 1960s, Spielberg became member ofTheta Chi Fraternity. His actual career began when he returned to Universal Studios as an unpaid, seven-day-a-week intern and guest of the editing department. After Spielberg became famous, USC awarded him an honorary degree in 1994, and in 1996 he became atrusteeof the university.In 2002, thirty-five years after starting college, Spielberg finished his degree via independent projects at CSULB, and was awarded a B.A. in Film Production and Electronic Arts with an option in Film/Video Production.

As an intern and guest of Universal Studios, Spielberg made his first short film for theatrical release, the 24 minute film Amblin’(1968),the title of which Spielberg later took as the name of his production company,Amblin Entertainment. After Sidney Sheinberg, then the vice-president of production for Universal's TV arm, saw the film, Spielberg became the youngest director ever to be signed for a long-term deal with a major Hollywood studio (Universal). He dropped out of Long BeachState in 1969 to take up the television director contract at Universal Studios and began his career as a professional director.In 1969,Varietyannounced that Spielberg would direct his first full length film, Malcolm Winkler, written by Claudia Salter, produced by John Orland, with Frank Price being the executive producer. However, because of the difficulty in casting the key male role, the film was not made.